Dulwich College (Singapore) has an exciting opening for a Director of Communications to cover a period of maternity leave from January to August.
The Director of Communications oversees all aspects of College communications to develop and implement an integrated communications plan, building the College's reputation, managing issues and crises, and engaging a breadth of stakeholders, including partners, parents, students and staff.
Providing an engaging and competitively differentiating communications experience, with corresponding content strategy to support school growth and strong advocacy within the College's communities, the Director of Communications is a member of the College Leadership Team (CLT). The CLT has joint responsibility for the overall direction and success of the College whilst having their own area of responsibility.
Integrated Communications and Content
- Localise and execute the Group communications and content strategy and guidelines
- Bring the outside in: manage team resources to identify relevant trends and news developments to help inform strategic decisions by CLT
- Provide strategic counsel to CLT and internal stakeholders across a breadth of communications and content issues and needs relating to external and internal audiences
- Own and implement the College content strategy and roadmap
- Strategise and implement a multi-channel framework including social media channels and external / internal communications platforms targeted at key stakeholders (eg. parents), that is constantly adapted to face changing stakeholder utilization
- Develop / support development of content across all College communication channels (earned, owned and shared), partnering with different College stakeholders as appropriate
- Drive the College's media relations plan through creation of news stories and media engagements (interviews, press events, networking sessions)
- Ensure newsletters, other publications and modes of communication are engaging, on-brand and reflect Dulwich codes of practice
Crisis Communications Preparedness and Management
- Lead on strategy and content development to manage issues / crises at the College
- Anticipate and advise on potential issues
- Develop plans to attenuate / manage issues
- Work with Group Communications to tailor crisis communications protocols and templates for local implementation
Stakeholder and Community Engagement
- Lead and develop strong external and internal influencer networks
- Develop communications strategy to drive parent engagement and support parent body (Friends of Dulwich) communications
- Identify improvement measures and supporting KPIs in tandem with the parent communication experience
- Lead a strategic programme of community outreach to strengthen College advocacy and community betterment
- Represent the College at media industry events to drive brand support with the media influencer set
Strategic Partnerships
- Localise the Group level partnership framework to create a school-level partnership approach that advances our reputation as an international brand and strengthens our relationships with key stakeholders and the local community
- Identify, develop and manage these partnerships
- Conceptualise programmes and content to drive these partnerships forward
Customer Experience
- Be a lead CX Change Agent within the College to nurture a CX focused culture.
General Duties
- Participate in the school's staff appraisal system as appropriate
- Take responsibility for promoting and safeguarding the welfare of children
- Present the best possible image of the school in general, and, in particular, in all contact and communications with parents, students, staff, visitors, the general public, suppliers and all other external organisations.
- Undertake training and staff development as needed and as determined by the school management
- Undertake such other senior leadership duties, commensurate with the post, which your Head of College, or other members of the College Leadership Team may occasionally require, including morning welcome duties and evening networking events
The successful candidate will have:
- Proven experience in developing a communications plan/strategy in line with Group direction
- Excellent writing and editing skills in English
- Deep relationships with local and international media based in your market
- Experience in leading crisis communications
- Sound understanding of social media platforms with ability to create compelling content across a variety of platforms
- Familiarity with website content management and design, online tools and software for editing video, photos, and audio
- Strong communications skills with ability to connect effectively with a diverse set of stakeholders from school senior management team to partners and parents in both one-on-one and group settings
- Proven success of leading a team of communications experts, and working with and coaching leaders
- Ability to adapt and work independently, inter-College and as part of project-based teams, as required
- Experience of managing internal and external production personnel in areas of print, photography, web presence, video production, and copywriting
- Understanding of, and support for, the Group's mission, and a commitment to ensure that all aspects of the communications program are always aligned
- Respect for and understanding of Education
- Project management skills with strong attention to detail
- Excellent time management and organisational skills
- Proven success of end-to-end event management
- Ability to maintain absolute confidentiality and the integrity related to all aspects of information disseminated within or external to the Group
- A degree in communications, journalism, public relations, English, or writing-intensive discipline, or equivalent
- Relevant experience in communications (writing, editing, journalism, consulting and/or public relations) with a minimum of five years in a management role
Dulwich College (Singapore) is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of all the students in our care and expects all applicants to share this commitment. We follow safe recruitment practices which are aligned to the recommendations of the International Task Force on Child Protection. We hold ourselves to a high standard of effective recruiting practices with specific attention to child protection. All appointments are subject to an interview, identity checks, criminal record checks, and successful references.
We welcome and encourage applications from people of all backgrounds. Having a diverse staff body is a great strength to us as a College and one of the ways that we can help students achieve our College Mission of Living Worldwise. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, ethnicity, gender, age, disability, religion, sexual orientation, pregnancy or socio-economic status. We support family-friendly flexible working opportunities, where operational needs allow.
PIE Registration Number: 201027137D
Period of Registration: 09 January 2024 to 08 January 2028
